A Beatlanta film review of “Big Sur” (2013) – streaming on Netflix now

April 13, 2014 0 Comments

In the past couple of years we have had a few screen adaptations from novels associated with the Beatnik generation released to varying success. I haven’t watched James Franco’s turn as Allen Ginsberg in “Howl” (2010), though I felt in the minority for liking Walter Salles’ 2012 film version of “On the Road” so much. While I never finished reading Jack Kerouac’s 1962 novel Big Sur on which this film is based, I imagine I would have liked it more than the film. If this version (written and directed by Michael Polish) has any good elements, it’s because it cheats.

Set around 1960 between San Francisco and a cabin in the title location, the story deals with Kerouac’s disillusionment and descent into alcoholism after the sudden acclaim and success of his 1957 novel On the Road. The film goes to the liberty of introducing the author to the audience through archive footage of his television debut on The Steve Allen Plymouth show in 1959.

Kerouac is played here by French American actor Jean-Marc Barr, a frequent collaborator of Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier. Barr, like the rest of the cast, is sadly not given much to work with. The performance is mostly in his eyes, looking outside of a face that has aged before its time, drifting through drunken delirium while occasionally resembling Don Draper. The emotional scenes that he is given are brilliantly interpreted by the actor.

The reason why Barr and his fellow cast members seemingly don’t have a lot to work with is because writer/director Michael Polish adapts the material in such a way that it relies way too much on narration taken straight from the pages of Kerouac’s novel. Compared to the large quantity of voice over, Barr’s actual dialogue with other characters in the film is few and far between. The narration is brilliant only because it comes directly from the source, going into rich detail about the experiences of a four day drinking binge, as Barr sits lifeless in a chair until it falls apart underneath him. The greatest surprise in the cast comes from Josh Lucas as the flamboyant Neal Cassady (the film characters go by their real names), who is now attempting to settle down and raise a family. He provides the necessary charisma required of the role, with an undercurrent of sadness brought on by aging.

Shot on the Red One camera along the beautiful California coastline and interior forests, the film is gorgeous to look at. But when you use time lapse photography while filming some of the nicest spots in the country, it’s hard to make it look ugly. There were some points during the excessive (but breathtaking) nature sequences that I kept waiting for the Philip Glass music to kick in. Speaking of music, the film could have done with less narration and more period music to add to the already dense atmosphere. The musical score provided by the rock group The National only detracts from the proceedings.

Clocking in at one hour and twenty minutes, “Big Sur” doesn’t overstay its welcome, but it doesn’t leave much of an impression either. It’s a visually stunning depiction of alcoholism, if such a thing can exist. And if it can, it’ll lack the same soul that this film was lacking. At least I can add it to my list of movies where the trailer was better than the actual film. Watch it below instead.